the random stuff that confuses and angers your parents

[ocd]

How did I miss this thread? Good lord, 35ft, I think we're probably related.

My Dad is ever increasingly right wing. It gets worse every time I see him. The thing is, nobody ever responds to anything he ever says about anything involving politics. But that doesn't stop him from chiming in with something just about every five minutes, no matter what the topic at hand.

A little background info: My Moms is an environmentally conscious Catholic who is vaguely anti-war (but prefers not to think about it) and very anti-gay and fiercely anti-abortion; My older-younger sister is basically apolitical; My younger-younger sister is a fairly liberal do-gooder who wants nothing more than to spend her entire life helping orphans in Cambodia, but doesn't really care about politics all that much; and I'm fairly liberal but don't really think about politics all that much, at least lately.

On xmas eve, some crazy lady cold knocked over the pope. My father had just heard about the incident. He knew nothing except "On xmas eve, some crazy lady cold knocked over the pope". No other facts whatsoever. My sister, who wasn't in the room when he heard about it asked "Who did it? Is he okay?" And my father responds with "Some damn liberal." The room was silent for a beat, and then I changed the subject.

We were talking about something involving the weather, just in general. His go-to joke is to vaguely reference Al Gore in some way that doesn't even make sense. So there's another topic nobody wants to discuss.

Another go-to line is that, apparently, having a dog does more damage to the environment than owning like ten thousand Hummers. I do not know if this is true. It does not matter, however, as nobody in our family owns either a dog or a Hummer. But this doesn't stop it from being mentioned at least once every time he sees me. I have no idea why he brings it up. It's unprompted.

I've got more examples, but I'ma have to drink this here coffee first.

I don't really mind that he's a right winger who makes it appear that he values non-fetus life about as much as his morning bowel movements, it's mainly that he's got no social skills when it comes to talking about it.

[fmstlr]

this is what happens when you have children. it turns you into a crankbot with no socially acceptable outlet for the frustration, so all that emotion get twisted into something unpredictable. You won't understand it until you're there.

[premium]

great.

[Iago]

"When you have children..."

"I won't!"

Aside from being gay, I have to say that I am not cut out for being solidly with anyone, and this confuses my parents tremendously. Bachelorhood is usually frowned upon in any culture.

Bachelorhood And Its Discontents
http://www.newenglishreview.org/cust...8/sec_id/22098

Love the opening quote:
Leibniz never married. He had considered it at the age of fifty; but the person he had in mind asked for time to reflect. This gave Leibniz time to reflect, too, and so he never married. — Bernard Fontenelle

[angoraphobia]

atms
evolution
holidays
abortion
the gays
hippies
tattoos
piercings
sex
nudity
bikinis
crosses
politics
art
the internet
modern music
blood transfusions
video games
cell phones
anything programmable
feminists
Rated R movies
Ouiji Boards
Anything that they consider satanic and that could be anything

this is the short list.

[35ft6]

Originally Posted by ja.net

I don't see what's weird about any of the stuff your dad says. I basically agree with him on many points.

Really? Could you explain?

[premium]

anything that doesn't directly glorify God is satanic, so yeah, that's a lot of stuff, ang.

[angoraphobia]

what can i say my parents are filled with hate and confusion. hurray for me!

[35ft6]

Originally Posted by ocd

How did I miss this thread? Good lord, 35ft, I think we're probably related.

Holy shit. I can see my parents/dad doing most if not all of the stuff you described.

The thing is, nobody ever responds to anything he ever says about anything involving politics. But that doesn't stop him from chiming in with something just about every five minutes, no matter what the topic at hand.

My dad does this, too. He gets all his news from Readers Digest, AARP magazine, and the Detroit Free Press, which in terms of delivering in depth objective reporting on important topics is somewhere in between the breakfast menu at IHOP and Yahoo!'s homepage. Just the homepage. Not clicking on anything. I guess their budget and circulation is way down. The paper I flipped through had about 10 pages of reporting, and the rest was generic lifestyle stuff that wasn't really date specific.

A little background info: My Moms is an environmentally conscious Catholic who is vaguely anti-war (but prefers not to think about it) and very anti-gay and fiercely anti-abortion...

My mom is completely apolitical but has become increasingly religious. They are Catholics, but my mom has created her own religion basically. She claims to speak in tongues and that she saw Jesus in the clouds over Romania, which she visited because the Virgin Mary appeared on a tree or something.

On xmas eve...

And my father responds with "Some damn liberal." The room was silent for a beat, and then I changed the subject.

I could totally see my dad saying this. He made random comments about "liberals" several times during my visit. Once for sure during a conversation about racial profiling, which he full heartedly supports.

We were talking about something involving the weather, just in general. His go-to joke is to vaguely reference Al Gore in some way that doesn't even make sense. So there's another topic nobody wants to discuss.

He made a couple of Al Gore jokes!!!

He doesn't believe in global warming and patiently explained to me that the earth naturally gets warmer and colder over time. You know, like the Ice Age? I asked, but how do we even know this? From the research of the same scientists who say man is causing climate change, right? I asked, why do you completely believe what they have to say about 5,000, 10,0000, 50,000 years ago but choose to not believe in climate change? He told me the scientists were just trying to "get rich." I asked "so you think hundreds of scientists independently doing research got together and decided to stop peer reviewing in order to perpetuate this massive hoax" to make money? Yeah, he said, "grant money." Al Gore, too. If people buy into it he stands to make tons of money. I said if people as bright as these scientists simply wanted to make money, they would have went to Wall Street. They're really hoping to cash in the hard way by spending 20, 30, or 50 years of their life studying rock, plant, and ice samples, etc.

By the way, my dad and I don't get mad at each other. He actually seems to enjoy talking to me because I'm the only person who will sit there and listen to him explain what he means.

Another go-to line is that, apparently, having a dog does more damage to the environment than owning like ten thousand Hummers...

I have no idea why he brings it up. It's unprompted.

Haha. If the right person said this on air at Fox, I'm sure he would be saying this, too. Actually, good on my dad, he thinks Hummers are obnoxious.

I don't really mind that he's a right winger who makes it appear that he values non-fetus life about as much as his morning bowel movements, it's mainly that he's got no social skills when it comes to talking about it.

As he gets older, he seems to see the world at large more and more as his enemy. And don't get me started on how many times he hit the dogs my brother and his girlfriend brought up.

My dad and I agree on a lot of things, though, too. He's not as anti-union as he was a few years ago. He supports single payer and nationalizing higher education, too. He really loves my nephew. If you met him, you would see these stories aren't as bad as they might seem. In many ways, he's softened up over time. I love the guy.

[35ft6]

Originally Posted by angoraphobia

what can i say my parents are filled with hate and confusion. hurray for me!

My dad's never said anything about gays. And all three of his kids independently became atheists, so he doesn't say anything about that either. I don't really think he believes either when it really comes down to it. He quit one church because they wouldn't let him be an usher.

[fmstlr]

Originally Posted by Iago

"When you have children..."

Love the opening quote:
Leibniz never married. He had considered it at the age of fifty; but the person he had in mind asked for time to reflect. This gave Leibniz time to reflect, too, and so he never married. — Bernard Fontenelle

interesting, it does give time to reflect, but I would argue that reflections are not only limited by the time allotted to it, but also the scope of life experiences that fueled it. Liebniz's reflections would probably be very deep in some aspects but would be sorely lacking in others, as he refrained from participating in a widely shared experience of humanity.

[Telephone]

My dad gets a huge kick out of messing with Christians coming to our door. So if any of you Christians and other religious types happen to catch my dad outside having a smoke, do not approach with your spam! He'll debate and question until you feel uncomfortable and leave.

We're nonpracticing Buddhists I guess (cept for my grandma). My pops is pretty apolitical too, I'm pretty sure he keeps up with it though.

My parents don't like Korean cars or American cars either. Strictly Japanese (they say the next step up is that Euro steeze, except for Saab).

My mom is pretty computer illiterate and it confuses her, but she's slowly picking up on it because she bought a little netbook and an external hard drive that my dad fills up with TVB serials and K drama.

[Iago]

Originally Posted by fmstlr

interesting, it does give time to reflect, but I would argue that reflections are not only limited by the time allotted to it, but also the scope of life experiences that fueled it. Liebniz's reflections would probably be very deep in some aspects but would be sorely lacking in others, as he refrained from participating in a widely shared experience of humanity.

Follow the link and read the article re: shared experience of humanity.

[ja.net]

Originally Posted by 35ft6

- A story about new words being added to the Websters Dictionary. Words like "sock puppet" and "frenemy." He scoffs, shakes his head.

That right there is a perfect example of something that makes me nuts -- 'frenemy'.

[FDM]

over christmas, my mom couldn't grasp the concept of Avatar.

"is it a cartoon or something? well, they look cartoony. oh wait, but what about those people, are those real people? how can the real people be in a cartoon? those cartoons look real. are those cartoons?"

my dad knows what cgi is, so he's further along than my mom is, who still laughs at those goddamn talking baby ads.